Queen’s Nurse candidate wins award for nursing older people

A Queen’s Nurse candidate is celebrating after winning a national award recognising the dedication she brings to caring for older people.

Lorraine Haining, who leads a multidisciplinary dementia team in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, scooped the top prize in her category at the RCNi Nurse Awards ceremony in London on Wednesday.

The specialist nurse practitioner has worked within the field of dementia for the last 18 years and has been heading up the IDEAS (Interventions for Dementia, Education, Assessment and Support) team from the Crichton Hall base in Dumfries since 2012.

The services it covers includes nursing, occupational therapy, phychology, speech and language and social work.

Initially, the remit was to support local care homes to improve the quality of life for people with dementia experiencing stress and distress with a focus on non-pharmacological approaches.

But permanent funding was secured after a successful pilot and the team of five’s work was rolled out to be available to any setting where a person with dementia spends time.

Her enthusiasm and dedication to her work was marked out by judges at the RCNi awards as she won the Nursing Older People category.

Lorraine was presented with the prize by TV presenter Kate Garraway at a ceremony at Westminster Park Plaza in London which was co-hosted by Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke.

Now in their 31st year, the RCNi Nurse Awards celebrate the very best in nursing care. Covering a wide range of specialties such as learning disability nursing, child health, cancer nursing, mental health nursing and nursing older people. These awards are widely regarded as the highest accolade for nurses in the UK.

Speaking afterwards, Lorraine said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. It was just the most fantastic evening.

“When I heard my name being read out I was totally gobsmacked as the candidates in my category were incredible.

“Listening to all the stories made me exceptionally proud to be a nurse.

“The whole occasion was a really lovely experience – we don’t celebrate success as much as we should and I was delighted to just be shortlisted in the first place.”

Lorraine, who attended the ceremony with three of her colleagues, added: “I’m so pleased for the whole team – you’re only as good as the team around you and that is definitely the fact for me. I’m delighted for them that this is getting high profile attention for dementia care and showcasing the really good work we are doing.”

Lorraine is among 21 community nurses currently undergoing the 2018 Queen’s Nurse programme.

All candidates were nominated by their organisations for demonstrating high quality, compassionate care. They then completed a written application and were chosen to go forward for the programme after attending a selection event where they impressed a panel of nursing leaders.